Overwatch 2 is finally out in the open, and although it's missing the PVE features initially promised, the PVP elements are in and waiting for you to try out. Because of that, the original game is no more, and you're going to want to instigate the Overwatch 2 account merge to keep those costly skins.
Merging your Overwatch account to the sequel is a straightforward process, but current server issues are causing some of the details to be fudged throughout the community. We've successfully done it ourselves, though, so we're here to hopefully shed some light on how it works.
For more Overwatch content, check out our Overwatch 2 tier list featuring character rankings, role picks, and even meta team compositions for the new 5v5 format. For something a little different, check out the Diablo Immortal tier list to get started there while the servers are playing up, or the Lost Ark tier list if you prefer a non-Blizzard take on the genre.
Overwatch 2 account merge steps - How to carry Overwatch progress into Overwatch 2
With Overwatch 2 now released, the steps for merging your Overwatch account to your Overwatch 2 game have been reduced somewhat.
If you did the steps prior to the game coming out, you should log in to see a message confirming the account merge was a success.
With that, you should be able to see all your stats and skins in the profile and hero menus. If they're not there and you have the message saying it was successful, you'll want to check out our separate Overwatch 2 skins page. The server issues are causing content to not carry over on certain platforms, but there's an easy fix.
If you missed your chance to do so, however, fret not: you can still link your Overwatch account through Overwatch 2.
Whether you're playing on PC or console, just launch the game and click the Account Merge selection on the main menu. If you're on PC - in which your PC account from the original game will have transferred automatically if you signed into the same Blizzard account - you'll be prompted to merge the console account you linked to your Blizzard account as well.
What transfers with an Overwatch 2 account merge?
Once you've linked your accounts, you should find that any cosmetics, legacy credits, league tokens, competitive points, and stats/presets have merged into the one account, unifying everything you earned in each platform prior to the sequel.
This is good news for a variety of reasons. Though crossplay was a thing in Overwatch, cross-progression wasn't. Any skins earned on one platform wouldn't carry over to another. And the same was true for competitive points, stats, ladder rankings, and just about anything else.
With an Overwatch 2 account transfer, though, anything you earned in the original - whether on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, or all of the above - will be unlocked and added to one account you can use on any platform. So if you earn competitive points on Xbox and spend them on PC, that fancy golden gun will be available on your Nintendo Switch as well.
For more game guides, check out our best Modern Warfare 2 guns tier list. That's right around the corner, and knowing the meta picks will take you far.